Example 8

Operation: Pass an argument string containing values separated by commas to a REXX exec.

Known:

The REXX exec named GETARG is contained in a REXX library named REXX.EXEC, which is allocated to file SYSEXEC.

The REXX exec consists of:

PARSE ARG A ',' B
SAY 'Value of A is:' A
SAY 'Value of B is:' B

Implicit form:

GETARG 1,2

Extended implicit form:

%GETARG 1,2

Explicit form:

ex 'REXX.EXEC(GETARG)' '1,2'

Note: If you want to pass an argument string that contains values separated by commas and the first value is null (that is, the argument string begins with a comma), then the explicit form must be used.

For example, to pass the argument string ",3" to the GETARG exec, you must specify:

ex 'REXX.EXEC(GETARG)' ',3'

In this case, GETARG is passed the two character argument string ",3". The PARSE ARG A ',' B instruction parses the argument string to obtain a null value for A, and a value of 3 for B.

If an implicit invocation is used, the leading comma is stripped from the argument string passed to the exec. That is,

GETARG ,3

results in the 1 character string "3" being passed to the exec.